Fair Labor Standards Act

LISTEN: Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos on advocating for migrant farmworkers’ rights
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LISTEN: Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos on advocating for migrant farmworkers’ rights

Dr. Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos joins the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice podcast to discuss why we must advocate for better workplace conditions for the people who grow our food.  Iglesias-Ríos, researcher at the University of Michigan and a co-investigator of the Michigan Farmworker Project, also talks about being raised by two strong women, her winding…

History of labor trafficking
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History of labor trafficking

ARIZONA, La. (KTAL/KMSS) –   The kids ran circles around the old brick chimney, yelling “You’re it,” at one another until they tired and headed back to the front porch of the crumbling mansion—but if the children had known the truth about the chimney in the middle of that Claiborne Parish field, would they have used…

U.S. House Democrats push for congressional hearing on child labor violations – Wisconsin Examiner
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U.S. House Democrats push for congressional hearing on child labor violations – Wisconsin Examiner

WASHINGTON — Top Democrats on the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee are urging Republican Chair Virginia Foxx of North Carolina to hold a hearing this month on the uptick in child labor violations. Democratic Reps. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the ranking member of the committee, and Alma Adams of North Carolina, the ranking member…

Legal loophole allows child labor exploitation in the U.S.
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Legal loophole allows child labor exploitation in the U.S.

In the U.S., it is legal for children as young as 12 to work unlimited hours outside of school with parental approval if they’re working in agriculture. There are currently around 500,000 children who work in agriculture, planting, picking, and packaging crops. Even children protected by the American Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are at…

Exploitative Child Labor Is Hurting Kids’ Ability to Stay in School
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Exploitative Child Labor Is Hurting Kids’ Ability to Stay in School

When Guatemalan immigrant Jose Velasquez was 13, he began spending his summers working alongside his mother in North Carolina’s tobacco fields. “I worked 10 to 12 hours a day, five days a week in the Goldsboro area,” he told Truthout. “I had to get up at 4:30 am. A rusty van would come by, cram…

Conservative campaign rewriting child labor laws | The Gazette
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Conservative campaign rewriting child labor laws | The Gazette

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds passes out pens Thursday after signing a property tax cut bill at the Statehouse in Des Moines. She told reporters she would soon sign a bill that eases restrictions on employing children. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) When Iowa lawmakers last week gave final approval to roll back certain child labor protections, they…

URI professor discusses worsening child labor in the United States
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URI professor discusses worsening child labor in the United States

KINGSTON, R.I. – March 13, 2023 -In recent weeks, the issue of child labor in the United States – particularly among migrant children – has come under new scrutiny. In mid-February, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a release detailing a $1.5 million penalty paid by Packers Sanitation Services Inc., one of the largest food…

Exploiting Prison Workers for Cheap Sheets
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Exploiting Prison Workers for Cheap Sheets

It took Johnny Perez over four years of making hundreds of bedsheets every day at a factory to reach the top pay tier: about 32 cents an hour, nearly double his starting wage. He was one of the highest-paid workers at Coxsackie Correctional Facility—a textile manufacturer run by the New York State prison system. When…

Feds Crack Down on Illegal Child Labor: What You Need to Know – JD Supra
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Feds Crack Down on Illegal Child Labor: What You Need to Know – JD Supra

The Biden Administration recently announced a new initiative to investigate and enforce violations of child labor laws. Significantly, the crackdown will include more aggressive investigations of and accountability for companies benefiting from illegal child labor, even if those companies do not employ the children directly. The federal child labor laws, which were authorized by the…

‘A lot of abuse for little pay’: how US farming profits from exploitation and brutality
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‘A lot of abuse for little pay’: how US farming profits from exploitation and brutality

Two dozen conspirators forced workers to pay fees for travel and housing while forcing them to work for little to no pay. In June, a farm worker from Mexico, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, was transported through a trafficking network from Monterey to work on farms in Georgia. They paid the…